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Celtic v Rangers: Willie Collum to referee Old Firm derby

The Euro 2016 referee will be in the middle at Celtic Park for the first Old Firm derby in the league since April 2012.

Renewing acquaintances: Collum will make his second trip to Celtic Park of 2016 but it will be the first time he encounters Rangers in this calendar year (Picture from Sky Sports)

EURO 2016 referee Willie Collum will take charge of his third Old Firm derby when Celtic welcome Rangers to Celtic Park this weekend.

The 37-year-old has been given the responsibility of keeping a lid on proceedings this Saturday lunchtime for the first league meeting between the fierce Glasgow rivals for four and a half years (KO 12:00 BST, live on Sky Sports 2).

He will be ably assisted by Frank Connor and Douglas Ross, with Kevin Clancy on electronic board duties as fourth official.

Collum, of Lanarkshire, will be in the middle for his eighth game in all competitions this season – and third in the Scottish Premiership.

His latest outing came last weekend in which he booked three players in world champions Germany’s 3-0 win over Norway in their opening 2018 World Cup qualifier.

Ross – who was one of his assistants in Oslo – is also involved in politics, as a Scottish Conservative councillor for Fochabers-Lhanbryde on Moray Council and Member of Scottish Parliament for the Highlands and Islands.

But it will be difficult for the Glasgow-born whistler to stay out of the headlines as he prepares to handle the biggest game of the season so far and his third fixture involving the sides – all of which have come at Parkhead.

Two of the five bookings came in the first five minutes and he awarded a controversial second-half penalty to the Gers when Kirk Broadfoot fell easily over Daniel Majstorovic, even though he appeared to have his back turned to the play at the time.

Collum then oversaw Celtic’s 1-0 victory at Parkhead in December 2011, for which his handling of what might have been a volatile game was roundly praised but Lee Wallace had a goal ruled out for Rangers which had actually crossed the line.

Modest record: Collum dished out 11 yellow cards in his two previous Old Firm derbies, which were not without major talking points (Picture from Sky Sports)

During those games, Collum awarded three penalties to Celtic, whereas in contrast, he was in the middle for only three Rangers games in 2015-16 – but awarded the Gers a penalty in each one.

Collum – a part-time Religious Education teacher at a Bellshill primary school – was a late replacement for Craig Thomson to oversee Mark Warburton’s first game in charge in the 6-2 win over Hibernian in the Challenge Cup first round at Easter Road in July.

Warburton branded some of Collum’s decisions as “shocking” – referring to the penalty awarded to the hosts when Danny Wilson clearly brought down Will Vaulks outside the box, before Martyn Waghorn’s late penalty was saved after a perceived handball by Craig Alston.

A notoriously card-happy Collum, who began refereeing in 1993, is no stranger to dealing with difficult situations and has a wealth of experience in so-called big games both domestically and across Europe.

He has been in charge of two Scottish Cup Finals in 2013 and 2015, the 2012 League Cup Final, two Premiership play-off second leg ties as well as receiving the honour of refereeing the 2015 Uefa Super Cup when Barcelona beat Sevilla 5-4 in Tbilisi.

But Collum was dropped from officiating Premiership fixtures for several weeks last season after a number of high-profile blunders, including two penalty incidents in Aberdeen’s 3-1 defeat at Inverness in February.

And, having yet to encounter either side this season, it was widely expected Collum – the only other referee with previous Old Firm experience among the current crop of officials – would be appointed to the first derby of the campaign.

As domestic action resumes this weekend after the international break, champions Celtic have played a game less but sit one point ahead of second-placed Rangers – who have won only one of their last seven trips to Celtic Park.

It will be Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers’s first taste of the Old Firm but, as he prepares to come up against Mark Warburton for the first time in the dugout, the Rangers boss tasted victory in a penalty shoot-out on his derby debut in the Scottish Cup in April.

REACTION:

Good work by @ScottishFA in appointing Willie Collum as ref for Celtic v Rangers, therefore deflecting from the latest Strachan nonsense…

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